Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1927)

Over the Teacups 47 Fanny's eyes wandered idly around the room, pausing to note with pleasure the gracious way that Gloria Swanson tirelessly autographed menu cards for all the people who rushed up to speak to her. "Of course, they would put her right by the door, so that she can't have a minute's quiet with her guests. She is a good sport. Lots of people stand by and prophesy that surely Gloria will begin to grow upstage, but she dispelled that idea by coming up here to Montmartre the first Saturday she was in town. Lunching here on a Saturday is about as exclusive as following a circus parade down Main Street. "Around one o'clock there was such a jam at the door that no one could get in unless they were so important that the} rated calling Rin-Tin-Tin by a nickname. But by two thirty the head waiters relaxed their vigilance, and a mob of little girls dashed upstairs into the restaurant, to surround Gloria and ask her for autographs. It always seems a little unreasonable to youngsters that she doesn't carry an armful 'of photographs around with her. "Gloria had a triumphant and regal home-coming. Even Man' Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks went down to meet her at the train, and the outside of the studio was all decorated in her honor. It took a cordon of police — whatever that means — to hold back the crowd. "The first Sunday night she was here, she gave a big buffet supper. She draws her friends from so many walks of life that it was in no sense a typical picture gathering. Aileen Pringle was there, of course. They are such old friends. But there were few other familiar faces. "Gloria may not know it, but she gave the thrill of a lifetime to one girl in Hollywood. Gloria and Douglas Fairbanks went over to the Fox studio to visit Frank Borzage while he was making 'Seventh Heaven.' Janet Gayncr was working, and when she s a w the visitors her knees shook. She had a wild desire to run out of the studio, and never appear again. She thought they would be superior or supercilious. But after they had watched her for a few moments, they were like every one else — tremendously enthusiastic. "I do not know of another girl in pictures who gives you such an electric thrill when you watch her work. Janet drifts over to the set quietly, looking very small and demure and incapable, and then when she starts to play a scene you forget the sizzling lights, forget the noise of the studio, and she simply carries you away. There is a great actress. Gloria Sivanson 's home-coming with bannered streets and police the crowd. ££,eiy Greta Nissen, too, has returned, with the promise of a glorious role in a Fox picture. "I'd take any bets — if I could find any one to bet with me — that Charlie Farrell will be infinitely better in 'Seventh Heaven' than he was in 'Old Ironsides' or 'The Rough Riders.' Working opposite a trouper like Janet commands a good performance. And Esther Ralston and Mary Astor, while beautiful, are hardly inspiring. "He is having a run of luck, for in his next picture Greta Nissen is to play opposite him. She just shrieks magnetism. "After finishing 'Seventh Heaven,' Fox figured that Janet deserved a vacation, so she went off to HP Florida to visit the old home town. She will come back in time for the grand opening of 'Seventh Heaven,' and already a designer is at work creating a gown for her that will give her a spectacularly beautiful entrance for her first big public apwas a regal one, pearance. If the only people who reserves to check attend the opening are those who claim to have discovered Janet, and given her her first chance, the theater will be plentifully crowded!" That's all very well, but you and I know that only the danger of sounding bromidic keeps Fanny from saying that she discovered Janet herself ! Continued on page 98 Photo by Kesslere